Why "Y"? Rant.

There are a couple name posts going on right now where the letter I has been substituted in favor of the letter Y.

Why is this a thing?

The substituting of y, or unnecessary insertion of y, IMO, makes it look like

a) you can't spell

b) you made up your lo's name

c) you think you can take a name that is already very popular and by sticking Y in there make it more unique (doesn't work.)

As a person who has a name that is difficult for people to spell (which is silly, it's spelled phonetically and has no superfluous letters), it always makes me cringe when I see a little baby saddled with a name that I know is going to bring it nothing but headaches for the rest of it's life.

Comments (470)

aureally I kind of have to agree with you on the leigh thing, though on occasion I have seen some really cute names invented using it. I'd say most of the time though it's just not as cool looking as people might think.

Also the Y thing sometimes gets outta hand in some names. Has anyone seen those names where basically every vowel has been changed to "y"? I mean... seriously? If you want a kid with a unique name don't call them Allison and then spell it "Allyssyn" hahaha. But then, its not my kid so I don't care that that much.

Spell your kids name's correctly people. Adding a Y where it shouldn't go does not make you or your child unique. That is all

Seriously, my best friend has a really cute name picked out for her LO but the spelling is just ridiculous. I still love my best friend but I told her my feelings staight up. She has her opinion, I have mine. But I will cringe everytime I have to write that kid a birthday card. Hee hee.

My name is Niccole, and I go by Nicci. My name is spelled differently, but I love it! It really makes me feel unique, especially since it's a common name. And back in 1984, it was different enough that the hospital called my mom just after she got home with me, to try and convince her to change it because "that's just not done." While some extreme misspellings are annoying, little things like "I" to "Y" or visa versa is not something to get your panties all in a bunch about.

If my parents would have named me something stupid, I would have changed the name or spelling at 18. I guess some people get used to it by the time 18 years passes... But I've always had to spell my last name for people... and now I have to spell AND pronounce my married name for people. I would snap if I had to go through that with my first name as well.

I wonder how many of us with unique names (or names that are often misspelled or mispronounced) went the opposite way in naming our own children because of ours.

My name is not unheard of, but it is rarely spelled properly. I don't really care unless it's for an important document or something. It is what it is. I hated my name growing up for the very reasons others mentioned. I couldn't find a super awesome pencil case with my name already on it. No license plate for my bike either!

My DH has a very common name. We decided to give our children traditional names that aren't overused and are spelled traditionally. Perhaps my own experience with my name is what led me to feel this way. Maybe if I were one of the 12 "Jennifer"s in my class growing up I would have gone with something super duper unique. Our own experiences must play a pretty strong role in what types of names we gravitate towards.